Around the wider world of golf: Sei Young Kim got her third win of the season at the Blue Bay LPGA event in China; Duffy Waldorf made the Toshiba Classic his first win on the Champions Tour; Victor Dubuisson won the Turkish Airlines Open for the second time on the ET; and Lanto Griffin won the Roberto De Vicenzo Punta del Este Open Copa NEC on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica.
It was a birdiefest in Kuala Lumpur. A foot or so of rain made the course so soft that the entire CIMB Classic was played "ball in hand," meaning everybody who managed to hit the fairway got a perfect lie. And while we didn't see a 59, we did see plenty of rounds in the low 60s.
Justin Thomas managed a 61 on Friday -- a course record and the lowest round of the week -- and that still wasn't enough to put him out of reach on Sunday. Brenden Steele and Kevin Na stayed right with him all day, and Adam Scott's putter put in a surprise appearance as well; the Aussie posted a 63, Sunday's low round.
Justin has had several close calls in 2015, but apparently he wasn't satisfied with just having so many chasers. No, he had to add a bit more drama with a double bogey on 14, just to keep everybody interested. Then he birdied 15, 16 and 17 before heading to the par-5 18th with a one-stroke lead. Time to put this baby away, right?
Wrong. Justin missed the fairway right, then found the bunker short of the green. From there he hit the ball to 20 feet before sending his putt far past the hole. Then he casually knocked the long par putt in to seal the deal and claim his first PGA Tour win.
You've got to love his comment about it: "I still can't believe what happened. I made that par to clinch the title. I don't care how I got it done; it just feels awesome."
After a year of coming up just a bit short, Justin finally breaks into the "Be Like Jordan" club and becomes the third first-time winner (as well as the third winner under the age of 23) to start the new wraparound season. And so, just like those other youngsters, he gets his very first Limerick Summary. Hey, how much luckier can a young guy get?
Okay… Justin may feel he stole oneThe photo came from the tournament leaderboard page at PGATOUR.com.
By scrambling at 18 to hole one
For par and the win.
But it just shows again
How the young guys continue to roll on.
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